Earl Scruggs and his powerful, groundbreaking banjo style transformed the world of country string band music, helped create bluegrass, and took this style beyond the South into the central strands of American culture.
Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington’s longtime collaborator, was among the most influential figures in American jazz. A versatile composer, arranger, and pianist, Strayhorn joined Ellington’s orchestra at age 22 in 1939 and worked with the bandleader the rest of his life.
Before there was Bon Iver or Megafaun, Justin Vernon, Phil Cook, Brad Cook, and Joe Westerlund existed as the folk group DeYarmond Edison. Their short-lived, Raleigh N.C. based tenure gained a cult following, and their 2006 split resulted in a creative micro-burst.
The following post draws from the traditional artist directory of our partners at the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.
From the first radio broadcast of musical notes to the childhood homes of internationally celebrated musicians like John Coltrane, many of North Carolina's music landmarks are noted by historical highway markers. We've complied a list of those highway markers below.
R.E.M. might be the most successful indie rock band in history, and for many folks they are the first band to come to mind when thinking of Southern college rock.
Bill Myers’ friends know that “Popeye” Myers, jazz musician and band leader of “The Monitors” for almost sixty years, and William E. Myers, distinguished educator, civic leader and Music Director of St. John A.M.E. Zion Church in Wilson are one and the same.
As a little girl who grew up playing house in tree forts while also staging living room concerts with a hairbrush as a microphone, I was taught by the world around me that these two paths were mutually exclusive.
The contributions of Black North Carolinians to the music realm spans all genres and could truly be one of those multi-disc collectible box sets that you buy on late-night television (do they still have those?).